72- 


PAM. 

».  AM  Eft, 


The  Problem 


By 

President  Charles  W.  Dabney 


University  of  Tennessee 

AN  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 
SOUTHERN  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 
COLUMBIA,  S.  C.  DEC.  28,  1901 


NEW  YORK 

General  Education  Board 


in 

South 


of  the 


1903 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/probleminsouth00dabn_0 


THE  PROBLEM  IN  THE  SOUTH 


Nothing  could  be  more  erroneous  than  the 
common  impression  in  the  South  that  the 
public  school  is  a northern  or  New  England 
invention.  The  fact  is,  that  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  the  first  conspicuous  advocate  in  this 
country  of  free  education  in  common  schools 
supported  by  local  taxation  as  well  as  of 
state  aid  to  higher  institutions  of  learning. 
To  him  the  schoolhouse  was  the  fountain- 
head of  happiness,  prosperity  and  good  gov- 
ernment, and  education  was  the  “holy  cause” 
to  which  he  devoted  the  best  thought  and 
efforts  of  his  life.  According  to  Jefferson, 
the  objects  of  the  public  school  were: 


1 To  give  to  every  citizen  the  information  he  needs  for 
the  transaction  of  his  own  business. 

2 To  enable  him  to  calculate  for  himself,  and  to  express 
and  preserve  his  ideas,  his  contracts,  and  his  accounts  in 
writing. 

3 To  improve,  by  reading,  his  morals  and  faculties. 

4 To  understand  his  duties  to  his  neighbors  and  country, 
and  to  discharge,  with  competence,  the  functions  confided 
to  him  by  either. 

5 To  know  his  rights;  to  exercise,  with  order  and 
justice,  those  he  retains;  to  choose,  with  discretion,  the 
fiduciary  of  those  he  delegates,  and  to  notice  their  conduct 
with  diligence,  with  candor,  and  with  judgment. 

6 And  in  general,  to  observe,  with  intelligence  and  faith- 
fulness, all  the  social  relations  under  which  he  shall  be 
placed. 

Jefferson’s  educational  plan,  which  he  pre- 
pared for  the  state  of  Virginia,  provided,  first, 
“for  elementary  schools  in  every  county, 
‘which  will  place  every  householder  within 
three  miles  of  a school;  district  schools,  which 
will  place  every  father  within  a day’s  ride  of 
a college  where  he  may  dispose  of  his  son ; 
a university  in  a healthy  and  central  situation.’” 
Where  will  you  find  a better  system  of 
public  education  than  this?  Jefferson  suc- 
ceeded in  founding  a state  university,  but  an 
aristocratic  organization  of  society  rendered 


4 


it  impossible  for  even  Jefferson  to  establish 
a complete  system  of  public  schools.  Schools 
for  poor  children  were  established  in  Virginia, 
as  in  other  southern  states,  but  she  had  no 
system  of  public  schools,  properly  speaking, 
until  the  civil  war  had  destroyed  her  old  in- 
stitutions and  so  prepared  the  way. 

Jefferson  devoted  the  best  portion  of  his 
life  to  the  establishment  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  but  he  never  advocated  university 
education  at  the  expense  of  the  public  schools. 
He  labored  for  all  forms  of  public  education, 
but  he  evidently  considered  the  common 
school  the  most  important.  He  says  in  a 
letter  to  Cabell:  “Were  it  necessary  to  give 

up  either  the  primary  or  the  university  I would 
rather  abandon  the  last,  because  it  is  safer  to 
have  a whole  people  respectably  enlightened 
than  a few  in  a high  state  of  science  and 
many  in  ignorance.  This  last  is  the  most 
dangerous  state  in  which  a nation  can  be. 
All  the  nations  and  governments  of  Europe 
are  proofs  of  it.”  The  aristocratic  attitude 
of  the  colleges  of  the  day  angered  him, 
and  he  urged,  in  a letter  to  Cabell  (Nov.  28, 


5 


1820)  that  “the  friends  of  this  university  (the 
University  of  Virginia)  take  the  lead  in 
proposing  and  effecting  a practical  scheme  of 
elementary  schools  and  assume  the  character 
of  friends  rather  than  opponents  of  that  ob- 
ject.” Jefferson  taught  that  the  chief  duty  of 
the  state  institution  for  higher  education  is 
the  promotion  of  the  interest  of  public  schools 
of  all  grades.  The  state  university  or  state 
college  which  is  indifferent  to  the  interest  of 
the  public  schools,  is  a monstrosity  that 
should  not  be  tolerated  for  a single  year. 

The  Father  of  Democracy  believed  in  an 
educational  qualification  for  the  suffrage. 
Said  he,  “If  a nation  expects  to  be  ignorant 
and  free  in  a state  of  civilization,  it  expects 
what  never  was  and  never  will  be.”  Speaking 
of  the  new  constitution  of  Spain  in  1814,  he 
said:  “There  is  one  provision  which  will 

immortalize  its  inventors.  It  is  that  which, 
after  a certain  epoch,  disfranchises  every 
citizen  who  cannot  read  and  write.  This  is 
new  and  is  the  fruitful  germ  of  the  improve- 
ment of  everything  good  and  the  correction 
of  everything  imperfect  in  the  present  con- 


6 


stitution.  This  will  give  you  an  enlightened 
people  and  an  energetic  public  opinion,  which 
will  control  and  enchain  the  aristocratic  spirit 
of  the  government.” 

Our  duty  to  the  new  time  in  the  South  is 
the  duty  of  educating  all  the  people.  It  is 
the  task  set  by  Jefferson  for  Virginia  in  1779, 
only  changed  and  made  more  urgent  by  the 
extension  of  suffrage  to  another  race.  This 
is  the  real  southern  problem : How  shall  we 
educate  and  train  the  people  ? It  is  the  prob- 
lem of  the  whole  country,  in  fact.  How  shall 
we  educate  all  the  people  for  intelligent 
citizenship,  for  complete  living,  and  the  true 
service  of  their  God  and  fellow-men? 

Our  conception  of  public  education  has 
grown  very  greatly  in  these  last  years.  It  has 
grown  in  two  ways:  first,  in  content,  and 

second,  in  kind.  This  conception  now  in- 
cludes every  human  being;  we  realize,  now, 
that  all  must  be  educated — that  every  human 
being  has  a right  to  an  education.  God  has 
a purpose  in  every  soul  He  sends  into  the 
world.  The  poorest,  most  helpless  infant  is 
not  an  accident,  a few  molecules  of  matter. 


7 


merely,  but  a “plan  of  God,”  as  Phillips 
Brooks  has  said,  destined  to  do  a definite 
work  in  the  universe;  it  is  a part  of  the  divine 
plan  of  creation,  and,  as  such,  deserves  to  be 
trained  for  its  work.  This,  it  seems  to  me, 
is  the  fundamental  argument  for  universal 
education — that  every  child  has  a right  to  a 
chance  in  life,  because  God  made  him  and 
made  him  to  do  something. 

Our  conception  has  also  grown  in  kind ; it 
now  includes  all  training  which  fits  the  man 
for  better  living  and  service.  “That  the  man 
of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished 
unto  all  good  works,”  says  St.  Paul.  Not 
perfect  for  his  own  self-satisfaction  merely, 
but  perfect  for  service;  and  not  thoroughly 
furnished  and  equipped  with  every  tool  re- 
quired for  his  work,  merely  for  the  purpose 
of  completeness,  as  the  king’s  palace  is 
furnished,  to  be  looked  at,  but  thoroughly 
furnished  unto  all  good  works.  The  primary 
object  of  education  is,  perhaps,  to  make  the 
man  perfect,  but  the  ultimate  object  is  service. 
And  not  one  kind  ot  service  merely,  as  we 
used  to  think,  or  even  a few  kinds  of 


8 


service,  like  the  four  learned  professions — 
law,  medicine,  teaching  and  preaching — the 
only  callings  for  educated  boys  in  the  old 
days,  but  all  good  works , all  professions  in 
life,  are  the  ends  of  education. 

All  forms  of  service  are  equally  honorable. 
Each  profession  demands  the  trained  man. 
The  aim  of  education  is  to  discover  what 
each  person  can  do  and  to  train  him  to  do  it. 

So,  also,  we  have  come  to  realize  at 
last  that  there  is  no  aristocracy  in  education. 
There  is  no  particular  class  to  be  educated, 
for  education  is  for  all.  It  is  not  a matter 
of  higher  education  for  one  class  and  lower 
education  for  another.  For,  correctly  speak- 
ing, there  is  no  higher  education  and  no 
lower  education,  except  in  order  of  time; 
in  order  of  merit  there  is  no  primary  edu- 
cation and  no  secondary  education;  properly 
speaking,  there  is  no  scientific  education,  for 
all  education  should  be  scientific;  and  no 
technical  education,  for  all  education  should 
be  technical  in  the  sense  that  it  is  applicable 
to  the  work  of  life.  These  terms  only  de- 
scribe imaginary  parts  of  our  education,  which 


9 


are  not  scientifically  different.  We  make  too 
much  of  these  terms.  Let’s  take  a broader 
view  of  the  great  subject  and  understand, 
once  for  all,  that  it  is  only  education , train- 
ing, the  all-education  of  all,  the  education 
of  all  men  to  do  all  the  work  for  which 
God  made  them. 

Our  mistake  has  been  in  supposing  that 
each  one  was  made  of  the  same  metal  and 
could  be  molded  in  the  same  old  mold  of 
the  classical  curriculum.  We  are  come  now 
to  know  that  there  are  as  many  molds  as 
there  are  men;  that  each  human  soul  is  a 
unique  monad — to  be  trained  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  his  own  being. 

Universality  and  diversity  are  thus  the 
two  principles  of  education.  Each  soul  has 
a right  to  an  education,  and  that  education 
should  be  in  accordance  with  his  God-given 
nature.  These  are  the  principles  that 
underlie  all  systems  of  public  education. 
Testing  our  public  schools  in  the  South  by 
them,  we  will  see  finally  how  wretchedly 
we  have  failed. 

In  the  first  place,  how  fully  have  we 


10 


applied  the  principle  of  universality,  that  is, 
the  education  of  all  the  people  ? Our  doc- 
trine supposes  an  equal  opportunity  for  an 
elementary  education,  at  least,  for  every  child 
in  the  commonwealth.  Have  we  provided 
this?  We  well  know  we  have  not. 

But  we  must  consider  our  problem  more 
nearly  and  in  more  detail.  Our  problem  is 
the  education  of  all  the  people  of  the  South- 
First,  who  are  this  people?  In  1900  these 
states  south  of  the  Potomac  and  east  of 
the  Mississippi  contained,  in  round  numbers, 
16,400,000  people,  10,400,000  of  them  white 
and  6,000,000  black.  In  these  states  there 
are  3,981,000  white  and  2,420,000  colored 
children  of  school  age  ( 5 to  20  years),  a 
total  of  6,401,000.  They  are  distributed 
among  the  states  as  follows: 


White 

Colored 

Total 

Virginia  . 

436 

000 

269 

OOO 

705 

OOO 

West  Virginia  . 

342 

000 

is 

OOO 

357 

OOO 

North  Carolina . 

491 

000 

263 

OOO 

754 

OOO 

South  Carolina. 

218 

OOO 

342 

OOO 

560 

OOO 

Georgia  . 

458 

OOO 

428 

OOO 

886 

OOO 

Florida  . 

1 10 

OOO 

87 

OOO 

197 

OOO 

Alabama. 

390 

OOO 

340 

OOO 

73° 

OOO 

Mississippi  . 

253 

OOO 

380 

OOO 

633 

OOO 

Tennessee  . 

590 

OOO 

191 

OOO 

781 

OOO 

Kentucky 

693 

OOO 

105 

OOO 

798 

OOO 

Total  . . 3 

981 

OOO 

2 420 

OOO 

6 401 

OOO 

What  an  army  of  young  people  to  be 
educated ! How  they  are  marching  on ! 
Many  of  them  are  already  beyond  our  help; 
all  will  be  in  less  than  10  years;  and  still 
they  come  marching  up  from  the  cradles 
into  American  citizenship. 

The  important  question  is,  what  are  we 
in  the  South  doing  for  these  children?  Let 
us  see!  Only  60  per  cent  of  them  were 
enrolled  in  the  schools  in  1900.  The  aver- 
age daily  attendance  was  only  70  per  cent 
of  those  enrolled.  Only  42  per  cent  are 
actually  at  school.  One  half  of  the  negroes 
get  no  schooling  whatever.  One  white  child 
in  five  is  left  wholly  illiterate.  Careful  analy- 
sis of  the  reports  of  state  superintendents 
showing  the  attendance  by  grades,  indicates 
that  the  average  child,  whites  and  blacks  to- 
gether, who  attends  school  at  all  stops  with 
the  third  grade.  In  North  Carolina  the 
average  citizen  gets  only  2.6  years,  in  South 
Carolina  2.5  years,  in  Alabama  2.4  years  of 
schooling,  both  private  and  public.  In  the 
whole  South  the  average  citizen  gets  only  3 
years  of  schooling  of  all  kinds  in  his  entire 


life;  and  what  schooling  it  is!  This  is  the 
way  we  are  educating  these  citizens  of  the 
republic,  the  voters  who  will  have  to  deter- 
mine the  destinies  not  only  of  this  people 
but  of  millions  of  others  beyond  the  seas. 
Have  we  not  missionary  work  enough  to 
do  here  at  our  own  doors  without  going  to 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico  or  the  Philippines'? 

But  why  is  it  that  the  children  get  so 
little  education?  Have  we  no  schools  in 
the  country?  Yes,  but  what  kind  of  schools? 
The  average  value  of  a school  property  in 
North  Carolina  is  $180,  in  South  Carolina 
$178,  in  Georgia  $523,  and  in  Alabama 
$212.  The  average  salary  of  a teacher  in 
North  Carolina  is  $23.36,  in  South  Carolina 
$23.20,  in  Georgia  $27,  and  in  Alabama 
$27.50.  The  schools  are  open  in  North 
Carolina  an  average  of  70.8  days,  in  South 
Carolina  88.4,  in  Georgia  112,  and  in  Ala- 
bama 78.3.  The  average  expenditure  per 
pupil  in  average  attendance  is,  in  North 
Carolina  $4.34,  in  South  Carolina  $4.44,  in 
Georgia  $6.64,  and  in  Alabama  $3.10  per 
annum.  In  other  words,  in  these  states,  in 


13 


schoolhouses  costing  an  average  of  $276 
each,  under  teachers  receiving  the  average 
salary  of  $25  a month,  we  are  giving  the 
children  in  actual  attendance  5 cents  worth 
of  education  a day  for  87  days  only  in  the 
year.  This  is  the  way  we  are  schooling  the 
children.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  they  do  not 
attend  school  when  we  provide  no  more  for 
them  ? 

Now  behold  the  results  in  the  adult 
people ! Figures  for  illiteracy  are  a poor 
index  of  the  condition  of  the  people  as  re- 
gards education,  but  they  certainly  signify 
much.  Comparing  the  percentages  of  white 
illiterates  over  21  years  ot  age  in  the  southern 
states  since  1840,  we  find  that  while  they 
increased  during  and  immediately  after  the 
civil  war,  they  have  decreased  very  slowly 
since.  These  percentages  in  typical  southern 
states  have  just  gotten  back  to  where  they 
were  in  1850.  In  other  words,  among  the 
whites  of  the  South  we  have  as  large  a 
proportion  of  illiterate  men  over  21  years 
of  age  as  we  had  50  years  ago.  In  a half 
century  we  have  made  no  progress  in  lift- 


14 


ing  the  dark  cloud  of  ignorance  from  our 
own  race.  You  will  be  startled,  as  I was, 
at  this  statement,  but  hear.  In  1900  the 
percentage  of  illiterates  among  males  over 
21 — native  whites,  mind  you,  the  sons  of 
native  parents — was,  in  Virginia  12.5,  in 
North  Carolina  19,  in  South  Carolina  12.6, 
in  Georgia  12.1,  in  Alabama  14.2,  in  Ten- 
nessee 14.5,  and  in  Kentucky  15.5.  In 
Mississippi  it  is  only  8.3,  a marked  dif- 
ference directly  traceable  to  their  better 
schools,  established  some  12  years  ago. 
These  are  not  negroes,  but  grown  white 
men,  the  descendants  of  the  original  southern 
stock. 

In  the  second  place,  let  us  consider  how 
schools  stand  as  regards  the  principle  of 
diversity — the  education  of  every  man  in 
accordance  with  his  God-given  nature.  Of 
all  the  public  schools  in  the  country  per- 
haps those  of  the  South  are  the  most 
completely  devoted  to  the  “three  R’s,” 
which  some  one  has  described  as  “little 
arithmetic,  less  reading,  and  least  writing.” 
Having  received  their  methods  from  the 


15 


church  schools,  the  colleges  for  higher  edu- 
cation were  also  devoted  almost  exclusively 
to  the  classics,  philosophy,  and  theology- 
These  facts  are  too  well  known  to  need 
amplification. 

The  South  is  an  agricultural  section ; 
its  people  must  always  support  themselves 
by  the  rural  arts.  The  problem  of  the  South, 
therefore,  like  most  sections  ot  our  country, 
in  fact,  is  the  problem  of  the  rural  schools. 
The  problem  of  making  money  enough 
to  support  a good  system  of  public  schools 
is  the  problem  of  improving  the  agricult- 
ural production.  Until  the  farmer  can 
make  more  he  cannot  give  much  more 
for  the  support  of  schools.  Before  the 
people  in  the  sparsely  settled  rural  districts 
can  build  worthy  schools  they  must  have 
productive  farms  and  good  roads  to  take 
their  produce  to  market.  The  campaign 
for  better  schools  is,  therefore,  closely  asso- 
ciated with  that  for  good  roads  and  for 
the  improvement  of  agriculture.  In  fact, 
these  three  things  must  all  go  forward  to- 
gether. The  methods  of  agriculture  must 


16 


be  raised  throughout  the  country,  and  good 
roads  must  be  built,  before  the  people  can 
support  rural  schools  worthy  the  name. 

Our  special  problem,  therefore,  is  the 
establishment  of  rural  schools  where  the 
elements  of  natural  science  and  industrial 
arts  are  taught.  Of  all  sections  of  our 
country,  the  South  is  thus  most  in  need 
of  industrial  education  of  all  kinds. 

The  indifference  to  education  among 
country  people  grows  out  of  a misunder- 
standing of  what  education  is.  The  people 
are  sick  of  the  old  education.  The  true 
education  supports  the  life  that  the  man 
or  the  woman  is  to  lead ; it  is  training 
for  complete  living.  How  absurd,  yes, 
how  wicked  it  is  then  to  train  the  farmer’s 
children,  who  must  live  in  contact  with 
nature  on  the  farm,  in  a fashion  that  fits 
them  only  to  be  bookkeepers  or  sales- 
women in  a city.  The  trouble  with  the 
old  education  was  that  it  educated  all  of 
the  bright  young  people  out  of  the  country. 
The  new  education  is  related  to  the  eco- 
nomic life  of  the  people  and  prepares  them 


17 


for  the  industries  in  which  they  are  to  make 
their  living.  The  true  education  trains  men 
to  think  right,  on  a straight  line,  to  feel 
right,  to  will  right,  to  do  right — and  so  to 
be  right ; it  makes  character — not  merely 
abstract  goodness,  but  practical  efficiency — 
the  character  that  does  good  things ! 

There  are  many  great  problems  before  the 
southern  people,  but  the  greatest  problem 
we  have  to  solve  in  this  generation  is  that 
of  the  rural  industrial  school. 

Such  is  the  situation  that  confronts  us, 
such  is  the  problem  we  must  solve.  The 
great  question  is,  How  shall  all  the  people 
of  the  South  be  educated  and  trained  for 
actual  life  ? Who  is  to  do  this  work  ? 
Shall  individuals  do  it?  Shall  the  churches 
do  it  ? We  have  relied  upon  them  largely 
in  the  past,  and  they  have  indeed  done  noble 
work  for  southern  people,  as  for  the  people 
of  all  sections  of  our  country.  We  need 
the  church  schools,  but  we  know  at  the  same 
time  that  the  churches  can  never  educate 
all  the  people.  We  have  come  to  believe 
with  Horace  Mann  that : “ Every  follower 


18 


of  God  and  friend  of  mankind  will  find 
the  only  sure  means  of  carrying  forward 
the  particular  reform  to  which  he  is  de- 
voted in  universal  education.  In  whatever 
department  of  philanthropy  he  may  be  en- 
gaged, he  will  find  that  department  to  be 
only  a segment  of  the  great  circle  of  benefi- 
cence of  which  universal  education  is  the 
center  and  circumference.” 

The  churches  must  take  part  in  the  work 
of  universal  education ; every  agency  for  the 
advancement  of  the  interests  of  humanity 
may  and  should  help  in  this  great  work; 
but  the  state  is  the  only  agency  which  can 
reach  all  the  people.  The  state  should  en- 
courage all  societies  and  individuals  to  aid 
in  this  work.  But  it  makes  no  difference 
how  many  of  them  are  in  the  field ; it 
must  take  upon  itself  the  great  burden  of 
educating  all  the  people.  Education  is 
the  best  preventive  of  crime,  it  is  the  only 
method  of  preparing  men  for  intelligent  and 
faithful  citizenship,  it  is  the  best  method  of 
increasing  the  productivity  of  the  people 
and  so  increasing  the  wealth  of  the  state. 


All  this  is  true,  but  we  do  not  rest  the 
argument  for  state  education  upon  this  alone. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  educate  the 
entire  population  because  it  is  the  only 
possible  way  in  which  the  entire  popula- 
tion can  be  educated  and  trained ; and  every 
soul  has  a right  to  this  opportunity  for 
training. 

If  this  is  true,  everything  the  state  possesses 
should  be  dedicated  to  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation first  of  all.  As  each  citizen  holds 
all  his  property  in  trust  for  the  good  of 
all,  so  the  state,  made  up  of  us  all,  holds 
all  its  wealth  in  trust  for  the  benefit  of 
all  its  members.  It  is  the  commonwealth , 
the  wealth  of  all. 

But  is  wealth — the  material  things  of  life 
— the  essence  of  the  commonwealth  ? What 
constitutes  the  state — the  material  possessions 
of  its  people?  No,  as  important  as  material 
wealth  is,  it  does  not  constitute  the  common- 
wealth. What,  then,  constitutes  the  state — 
the  men  and  women  of  today?  No,  as  in- 
fluential as  they  are,  they  do  not  make  a 


20 


state.  What,  then,  constitutes  the  state — the 
fathers  who  won  our  liberties  and  the  mothers 
who  trained  our  great  men*?  No,  as  brave 
and  good  as  they  were,  they  alone  do  not 
form  the  state  of  today.  What,  then,  does 
constitute  the  commonwealth  '?  The  succes- 
sive generations  of  men  and  women  taken 
collectively,  all  past,  all  present,  and  all  to 
come,  these  constitute  the  commonwealth. 
As  the  people  ot  the  past  owed  a duty  to 
us,  so  we  owe  a duty  to  all  who  follow  us. 
All  the  property  of  the  commonwealth,  all 
the  mind,  intellect  and  soul  of  all  its  people, 
all  its  past  glory,  and  its  present  power — 
all  the  state  has  been,  is,  and  will  be,  is 
pledged  for  the  education  of  all  its  youth. 
The  commonwealth  exists  only  for  the  chil- 
dren of  today  and  those  of  the  future.  To 
rob  them  of  the  opportunity  for  education 
is,  then,  the  greatest  crime  of  which  the 
state  can  be  guilty. 

This  is  not  only  Jefferson’s  doctrine,  it 
is  the  trtie  meaning  of  the  fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man ; this  is 


what  the  Master  meant  when  He  said, 
“Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me”; 
and  this  is  the  significance  of  His  parting 
charge,  “ Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  unto  me.” 


